Born in 1947. Arata Tani was awarded the first prize of the competition of art critique, organized by Bijutsu Shuppan-sha Co., Ltd (1972). Since then, he mainly writes critiques of contemporary art. He also played a role as correspondent at Biennale de Paris (1977), the commissioner of Japan Pavilion at Venice Biennale (1982 & 1984), a member of researcher and planner of Southeast Asian contemporary art, organized by ASEAN Cultural Center of Japan Foundation (1991 – 1994). He was also the commissioner of Asian section at Gwangju Biennale (2000), the general director of Water and Land Niigata Art Festival (2018), and the director of Utsunomiya Museum of Art (1997 – 2017). Publications include: “Kaiten-suru Hyosho––Japanese Contemporary Art from 1970’s (Gendaikikakushitsu, 1992), “Hokujo-suru Minamikaze––The Contemporary Art of Southeast Asia (Ibid, 1993).

Photo:NAKAMURA Osamu